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A FlyDubai plane bound for Russia's Rostov-on-Don Airport apparently missed a landing strip and crashed Friday, killing all 62 people on board. Here's what we know:
Plane apparently missed landing strip, struck grass
It was not immediately clear what caused the fiery crash but Vasily Golubev, governor of the Rostov region, told Russian news agencies the plane crashed 250 meters (800 feet) short of the runway at Rostov-on-Don Airport.
“By all appearances, the cause of the air crash was the strongly gusting wind, approaching a hurricane level,” he said.
The Russian Emergencies Ministry told the Associated Press the Next-Generation Boeing 737-800 clipped the ground with a wing and caught fire.
“According to the weather data reported by Russian state television, winds at the moment of the crash at an altitude of 500 meters (1,640 feet) and higher were around 30 meters per second (67 miles per hour),” the wire service reported.
Two of the plane's black boxes were reportedly recovered. Airline officials confirmed to the AP that one flight recorder had been found.
Flight made multiple landing attempts before crashing
The airplane crashed on what appeared to one of multiple attempts to land at Rostov-on-Don, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24.com.
According to FlyDubai, Boeing 737-800 left Dubai International Airport Friday around 6:20 p.m. GMT. It was scheduled to land in Russia about four hours later.
Video purportedly taken from CCTV cameras at the scene appeared to show the moment the plane plummeted into the ground and burst into flames.
Flight carried men, women and children of four nationalities
Flight FZ981 passengers included 33 women, 18 men and four children, according to a statement from FlyDubai.
A majority of the passengers were Russian nationals. The plane also carried some Ukrainians, Indians and Uzbekistanis, according to the Dubai Media Office.
“At this moment, our thoughts and prayers (are) with those on-board and their loved ones and family,” FlyDubai CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith said in a recorded statement. “We are doing everything that we can to help those who have been affected.”
FlyDubai emergency response team headed to Russia
An emergency response team from FlyDubai was headed to Russia to investigate the crash Friday. The airliner said Al Ghaith is leading the investigation with the support of flydubai's full management team.
“At this stage the focus of our efforts is on establishing the facts around the incident and providing all possible support to the authorities,” the company said in a news release.
Sympathies pour in
Multiple companies and government officials, including His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rasin Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai, shared their sympathies on social media for the 62 killed in the FlyDubai crash.
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